-- job creation back in texas, so, am i ready for the next level? let me tell you, i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> a hail mary from rick perry on the final debate before the iowa caucuses, and the who front-runners trying to convince voters they're the best republican to face president obama. another government shutdown averted. now to the business of saving you $1,000. time running out for congress to extend a popular tax cut. and from russia with no

love. vladimir putin is suggesting john mccain is nuts. mccain responds on twitter saying, dear vlad, was is something that i said? on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and good morning to you. it is friday, december 16th. nine days left before christmas. can you believe it? >> have you finished your shopping? >> i have two gifts bought. >> and that means no. good morning, everybody. i am alina cho. welcome to "american morning." the last critical debate before the iowa caucus, the front-runner, newt gingrich playing defense on his conservative values and electability. mitt romney stood by his business background playing it safe and texas governor rick perry realizing it may be the fourth down threw this hail mary pass. >> there are a lot of folk whose

said tim tebow wasn't going to be a good nfl quarterback. that looked print good. am i ready for the next level? let me tell you i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> best line of the night. jim acosta live in sioux city, iowa. i'll stop with the football references. good morning. how did last night go? >> reporter: sure. good morning. newt gingrich found out what it's like to be the front-runner heading into the final weeks before voting begins in these primaries. he was hit early and hard by his fellow candidates there on the stage. first among them was michele bachmann. she went right after newt gingrich pretty early on in the debate on the issue of freddie mac, and the fact that newt gingrich took a lot of money from the housing giant advising them just before the housing crisis last decade. here's how michele bachmann put it. >> i was trying to see these two

entities put into bankruptcy, because they, frankly, need to go away, when the speaker had his hand out and was taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going in washington, d.c. that's absolutely wrong. >> the easiest answer is, that's just not true. what she just said is factually not true. i never lobbied under any circumstance. i never went in and suggested in any way that we do this. >> you don't need to be within the technical definition's being a lobbyist to still be influence peddling with senior republicans in washington, d.c. to get them to do your bidding. >> i only chose to work with people whose values i share and having people have a chance to buy a house is a value i believe still is important in america. >> reporter: that was a tough moment for newt gingrich, because, you know, to get up

there onstage and say you share the values of fannie mae and freddie mac that did not go over well with conservatives. he was able to redeem himself over the course ever the evening, if you follow a lot of tweets from a lot of conservative acts vists. they liked the way newt gingrich performed later on in the debate. but mitt romney, he got very lucky last night, because his record of changing positions on issues that conservatives care about that was not really challenged that much during the course of the debate. he had scorched newt gingrich all this week on a variety of issues, but didn't do so last night, and so that kept newt gingrich off of his back, but at the very end of the debate, governor romney was challenged on his record by one of the moderators, and here's how that went. >> i do not believe in discriminating against people based upon their sexual orientation. some people are due. high a member of my administration, who was gay. i had the potential to fight for anti-discrimination in a way that would even better than senator kennedy as a democrat was expected to do so.

at the same time, chris, in 1994 and throughout my career i've said i oppose same-sex marriage. marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. >> he personally as governor issued gay marriage licenses. i don't think that is an accurate representation of his position of saying tolerance versus substantively going by the laws. i've had a consistent strong record of standing up for the values of this country. no discrimination. we're not talking about discrimination. we're talking about changing the basic values of our country. >> reporter: so that was a tough moment for mitt romney, but overall, a lot of folks who watched that debate last night felt that he really won this debate, because he came out of this unscathed while newt gingrich's chief rival here in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina really got dinged up last night, and we're actually at a steel factory here in sioux city where mitt romney will be later this morning. interesting that he'll be here,

because this is a state he hasn't kpeeft competed that muc. he has a serious chance of winning this state, guys, and that would really shake up this race. >> 18 debates. 18 days until the iowa caucuses and 11 degrees where you're standing this morning. jim acosta, thank you very much. >> reporter: i can feel it. >> ear mufrs and the whole bit. thanks. plenty of attacks last night, all giving president obama ammo for the fall campaign. >> good morning, carol. >> we heard the back and forth between gingrich and bachmann over his work with freddie mac. how does gingrich get out of that one. was his answer satisfactory? >> probably not. not the most compelling debate. lower on energy. seemed perfunctory at time but reaffirmed the basic dynamic that governed this race all year. two central phenomena.

one, mitt romney has not been able to expand his support beyond 25% or 30%. i don't see anything happened last night to help do that, and the other big thing no one has been able to lastingly gain support from the roughly two-thirds of the party that is skeptical of romney. you saw mitt romney facing challenges in holding that support. he had made progress in the last few weeks in polls, in sort of pulling that vote together, but the attacks on his work for freddie mac, i think, were pretty effective, and you kind of felt -- watching i felt i was watching rick perry dealing with the in-state tuition for illegal immigrants a few months ago. none of these consecutive as per rants too be the tea party all hiv that been able to hold that because several have not seemed consistently conservative enough. those vulnerabilities were exposed for gingrich last night and we've seen it from a bunch of conservatives voices in the last week raising alarms about

him as the right alternative to romney. >> the national journal came out against newt gingrich in a big way. >> national revunchiew. i'm sorry. and newt gingrich didn't go after romney last night, many attacks coming from the romney camp and gingrich admitted he got thrown by some of the romney attacks. listen to what he said last night. newt gingrich i mean. again, from fox news. >> i sometimes get accused of using languages too strong. so i've been standing here editing. i'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany. >> he tried to get over that -- mitt romney called him zany. which is a strange word to use anyway, but a perception a lot of republicans have of newt gingrich. >> right. two separate things here. first, as we talked about, gingrich's biggest problem in

the race is doubts about his temperament and whether he's capable of being a candidate and certainly in effect the president and many of those doubts are deepest among the republicans who served with him as speaker. very effective at a guerrilla leader er ier in 1994. a lot more trouble as speaker of the house. those doubts could be a big part of his challenge. he's also making a very conscious decision last night, i thought, as mitt romney has been challenging his conservative credentials. in 1994 when newt gingrich was leading republicans back to their majority, promulgating with america, newt gingrich said he wouldn't sign it and distancing himself from the bush record. a comeback, mitt romney says he's an unreliable leader of the conservative cause. at the moment gingrich is saying i'm going to float above the fray and be the positive candidate. last night he needed a little more contrast, because he spent

an awful lot of that first hour on the defensive about his conservative credentials, in particular, his consulting work with freddie mac. >> i don't know how i feel about endorsements, really, but this is an important one that came out. the south carolina governor will reportedly endorse mitt romney today. how big a deal is that? >> i think a medium deal. she's having her own problems with the party. endorsements in general are overrated but it reflects what we're talking about. the larger phenomenon. newt gingrich has done almost the impossible. made them feel they have to rally around mitt romney. they've had enormous doubts about. nicky haily is part of the general drum beat of the national review, the weekly standard, a series of members of congress. a lot of republicans are leery of gingrich's nominee, mostly unpredictable and vulnerable.

she a strong favorite to win south carolina no matter what their governor says, though. >> and before you go, "the washington post" was complaining about the buzzer at last night's debate. so let's look at jon huntsman. running out of time. let's watch. >> when we're strong, we project values of goodness that transform and change people like no military can. 2 used to break my heart sitting in beijing, second largest embassy in the world. >> two dings in that one. governor perry -- >> i don't even know what that noise was. actually, "the washington post" had good suggestions to, you know -- for what to use instead of that. maybe jim morrison crooning "this is the end." my only friend, the end. >> a kindler, gentler debate. a kindler, gentler buzzer. >> after more than a dozen debates that perfunctory feel of last night, could have buzzed him earlier. didn't see the candidates were quite as engaged as earlier and

obviously, coming into a lot of similar ground. one quick point the other thing that wasn't going to gingrich, again rick perry and michele bachmann did well. fragmented the conservative vote gingrich had been consolidating helps romney if gingrich is brought down to someone else wins the state. >> ron brownstein, thank you. good morning. >> never a dull moment. just hours to spare, looks like there may be a deal to avoid a government shutdown. this is the eighth time we have reached this threat just this year, but last night several democratic sources told cnn they have reached and agreement will fund the government through october of next year. both the house and senate are expected to vote on the deal later today. the politics are still holding up a number of other important issues including, of course, the pay roll tax cut, extending unemployment benefits and an increase to doctors who provide

medical services. because of that debate, kocongrs is again working on this last-minute deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. from star quarterback to star witness. mike mcqueary expected to testify today against two of his former bosses at penn state. they are charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. susan candiotti live in harrisburg, pennsylvania this morning. so what can we expect in court today, susan? >> reporter: well, it's going to be a very important day for the state, because the state is expected to put on mike mcqueary as a key witness to try to prove these charges of perjury and failure to report a case of alleged child abuse against these two penn state officials. it's a very important part of this case, because the state is going to issue more or less a mini preview of what's to come. they have to prove to a judge there is enough evidence that a

crime was committed through the testimony of mike mcqueary and some others. >> so, susan, how are they going to prove that? >> reporter: well, of course, his testimony will be very important, and we're going it hear from him, if he indeed takes the stand, for the first time some details other than a broad overview of what he told the grand jury. we are expected to hear what mike mcqueary said that he saw back in 2002 in a locker room at penn state when he testified that he saw a boy about 10 years old being allege -- allegedly being raped by jerry sandusky and furthermore, that he went on to tell coach joe paterno about it as well as these two penn state officials and yet nothing, apparently, was done. how will they go about doing it? in part, put on testimony that might include the testimony of joe paterno. now, because of the state of his health, he might not appear in person, but they would certainly

enter into the record what joe paterno told the grand jury about what mcqueary told him. >> so will defense attorneys have a chance to cross-examine the witnesses? >> reporter: they certainly will, but are limited what they can ask these witnesses about. for example, they're not allowed to test someone's credibility at this stage in the proceeding, but if a judge is convinced that there is enough evidence to move forward to trial, then he will agree to do that, and agree that this should go forward to a trial stage. >> susan candiotti reporting live from harrisburg, pennsylvania this morning. thank you. 15 minutes past the hour. other top stories this morning -- army private bradley manning facing an arraignment at a base in maryland for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents that wound up being published on wikileaks. charged with 22 counts of violating military code ranging from threat of records to aiding the enemy. he could get the death penalty

if found guilty. sentencing day for former baseball great barry bonds on his obstruction of justice conviction. jurors back in april found bonds was said to be evasive in his testimony to a federal grand jury investigating illegal steroid use by athletes. prosecutors want baseball's home run king to serve at least 15 months in prison. lawyers for bonds have asked the judge for probation. just ahead on "american morning," is iran more on the matrix than we thought? iran now planning to get hacked into one of the most high tech drones in the u.s. art arsenal and brought it down. had uns of students protesting florida governor rick scott angry over his comments on the recent hazing and fraud scandals. we'll show you how that went down just ahead. actor christian bale getting roughed up by chinese security at the home of a prominent human rights activist followed by a car chase. feels like it was right out of the movies. right?

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hitchens died after a long battle with cancer. a self-described militant pundit, he been a contributing editor to "vanity fair" for the past two decades. piers morgan he tweetd he was the greatest lit raye provocateur of my lifetime. he was 62 years old. an nfl play sir under arrest for trying to set up a drug ring. chicago bears wide receiver samuel herd caught in an underkouver sting five-month investigation that started when he was playing back for dallas. they met with an undercover agent at a restaurant in chicago where he allegedly tried to buy a quarter of a million dollars worth of cocaine. claimed he was already selling drugs in chicago and wanted to distribute even more. if convicted, he could spend 40 years in prison. the top secret u.s. drone that crashed in iran was luking for nuclear sites what a military official is admitting to cnn. up until now the u.s. story it

was only keeping an eye on the u.s. border. so could the u.s. change its story how it went down? asked security chief of stat chad sweet whether iran has the technology to hack into something so sophisticated. >> i think the proof in the pudding will be in whether they put up or shut up. we'll see. secretary panetta stated clearly we'll continue to operate the program along the afghan/iranian border. so they'll have to be able to demonstrate they can rec pla kate this. >> iran claims it captured the drone by hacking into its gps systems but the u.s. insists it was a technical glitch on our end. still to come on "american morning," are the cell phone bans for drivers really effective? one insurance group says, no. we'll tell you why. an extensive background on jumping women on their looks. now howard stern is going to have -- have to look a little deeper.

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25 minutes past the hour. "minding your business" this morning. stocks break a three-day losing streak thanks to upbeat reports on manufacturing. this morning u.s. stock futures are trading higher. the imf, christine lagarde said the european crisis is escalating and warned the current crisis cannot be resolved by one group of countries. and the current debt crisis in europe is taking a toll on the credit worthiness of at least six global banks. rating agency fitch just

downgraded bank of america, goldman sachs and several other banks saying they are vulnerable to the economic and regulatory challenges currently facing the financial markets. morgan stanley is becoming the latest bank to slash its payroll. the investment giant announcing plans to cut 1,600 jobs. a little more than 2.5% of its work force. the cuts are need to offset revenue from investment banks and trading. pays to have the corner office. according to a new survey, ceos at america's top companies received a 35% jump pay last year. wondering who made out the biggest, best, biggest, the ceos in the health care industry. according to the insurance institute for highway safety those cell phone bans for drivers are useless. according to the institute's research, the bans resulted in future drivers using cell phones but not resolved in fewer crashes. "american morning," back after a break. the employee of the month is...

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[ chanting ] hundreds of students protesting on florida governor rick scott's doorstep angry over his comments on the recent hazing and fraud scandals. the governor responds with a bull horn. see how it all went down on this "american morning." and welcome back. it's 30 minutes past the hour. time for a check of this morning's top stories. just in the nick of time, congressional leaders struck a $1 trillion deal toll avert a one weekend government shutdown. that deal expected to be voted on today though still no agreement on extending the payroll tax cut. newt gingrich on defense. during last night's debate before the iowa caucuses, gingrich defending himself against questions about electability and his conservative record. and for his work at the troubled mortgage giant freddie mac. gingrich firing back that he "never lobbied under any circumstances."

penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary is expected to testify today at a preliminary hearing for two former university officials. tim curley, penn state's ex-athletic director, and gary schultz a former university vice president, both men are charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. with less than three weeks to go before the iowa caucuses, candidates like mitt romney and rick perry are raking in millions in campaign contributions. but they can't compete with scott walker. now, walker is wisconsin's republican governor. earlier this year he clamped down on collective bargains rights for union workers in his state. now he's facing a possible recall. and with his job on the line, the cash is pouring in. positive explain all this, ted rowlands live in chicago. what happened, ted? >> reporter: women, what happened was, this anger that we saw back in february, march of last year, hasn't gone anywhere in wisconsin.

it is still there and scott walker now, when you look at number of signatures that have been collected by democrats, will likely have to win another election if he wants to keep his job. [ chanting ] >> reporter: it's been nine months since those huge crowds took everybody are the inside and outside of the state capitol. motions are clearly still running high in wisconsin. >> i call them union pigs. they root in madison like pigs root in pigsties. >> reporter: democrats with the support of national labor unions launched recall efforts against nine state senators but say they won't be satisfied until governor scott walker is out of office. they claim walker used a republican majority to ramp through anti-union legislation, which voters didn't know was coming and the majority of wisconsinites don't support. >> going to need your address. >> reporter: volunteers collected more than 500,000

signatures to recall walker. they need about 40,000 more to force a recall. republicans are questioning the validity of those signature, citing reports that people are signing more than once. this man claimed he signed 80 times. >> what it takes to get scott walker out of here, i'm happy. >> reporter: democrats aren't worry. >> we are creating a database, and double checking to make sure that we're not counting signatures more than once. >> wisconsin's best days are yet to come. >> reporter: walker is running ads like this urging people to say no to the recall. >> bottom line, some people out there want to reverse the course of the last election, all i can do is stay focused on doing what i said i'd do when aye was campaigning. >> reporter: a lot of the money fueling both sides of this fight is coming from out of state. more than $40 million has already been spent on recalls in wisconsin, and there is much more to come. >> i haven't seen anything like this before. i think that, you know, scott

walker is going to have tens of millions of dollars. we're going to do our best to raise as much money as we can. >> reporter: and last night the walker campaign announced they've raised $5.1 more million during this last reporting period and alina, our first lawsuit in this one. they're filing a -- they filed a lawsuit challenges the validity of the signatures and haven't even been turned in yet. this battle, this war, continues to rage in wisconsin and a lot of people across the country are watching it. >> sure, but you know, which begs the question, ted, you know, is this a way simply for the opposition to get a lot of attention nationally? or do they have a real shot at recalling him? >> reporter: well, they have an absolute shot at recalling him in terms of forcing this recall election. they don't have a candidate yet to put up against him. they want senator herb cole to run. a lot of pressure for him to do so. he's retiring from the senate. he hasn't indicated that he will or won't. maybe you'll see milwaukee's governor go after him, but at

this point, the first step of this process to make walker run for his job again after just one year in office, that seems to be in place. they only need 40,000 more signatures. >> all right. ted rowlands watching it all from chicago. ted, thank you. a university scandal lands on the governor's doorstep. watch. [ chanting ] hundreds of florida a&m students line up on governor rick scott's lawn. they are outraged over his recommendation for -- for university trustees to suspend the school president in the wake of hazing allegations. the governor got out of bed to respond to the crowd. >> look, hopefully -- hopefully, when this investigation is finished, nobody can question that he's done all the right thing. that's what all of us hope. but why wouldn't he -- put his

university in position, it's clear, there's nobody questioning how thorough this investigation is. that's where we have a disagreement. we don't think that's in the best interests of our student body to have a leave of absence of our president. that's where we disagree. so we -- we are not going to leave until you rescind your recommendation. >> a bull horn at his house. handy, right? last month the university drum major was kill fld a suspected hazing and just this week three band members were arrested in another suspected hazing that left a woman badly beaten. authorities are also looking into possible financial fraud. new developments this morning in the struggle to contain japan's nuclear disaster. power officials say a cold shutdown has been achieved at that crippled daiichi nuclear power plan in fukushima japan. experts say mere lay symbolic milestone and could be years make decades before total

containment and cleanup is complete. paula hancocks is live in seoul, korea for us. paula, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, alina. it certainly is a milestone, but experts are telling us it's not one we should necessarily get too carried away with. now, this definition of a cold shutdown of the reactors atf s fukushima means the temperature is lower than boiling point. it is an improvement. it was a goal tepco, the organizers, gave themselves by the end of the year they would have a cold shutdown and the prime minister told his people the situation was now stable, and the reactors were finally under control, but there have been many experts who are questioning this terminology. cold shutdown usually refers to a nuclear power plant which has been functioning normally and functioning well, and it also refers to nuclear fuel rods that

are in a safe and stable condition. obviously, this is not the case in fukushima. there has been a partial melt dmo meltdown in a number of reactors. some question whether or not this is technically a cold shutdown. the fact is, this is a mild milestone even though symbolic. the prime minister says at least -- it means now they can move on. shift their focus from trying to stabilize these reactors to trying to demission these reactors. of course, this process could take decades. some people say it could take up to 40 years, and that's after they decided what they will do exactly with this power plant. whether they will dismantle it completely. there is an acknowledgement there is a lot more to do. unfortunately, this announcement today doesn't make much difference to those people who have been forced to leave their homes because of this nuclear crisis. 88,000 people are still living away from home. many of them living in temporary

housing. many living with friends and families, not knowing when they can go back or even if they can go back. alina? >> when they go back, that will be the real milestone, i suppose. paula hancocks live in seoul, south korea with that update. thank you. academy award-winning actor christian bale is used to access on a movie set that is. bale experienced real-life drama on a trip to china. the actor was roughed up by chinese securitiy when he tried to meet a detained human rights activist. >> i think that had we been locals, we would have been roughed up very severely. as it was, being foreigners, they tried to take the cameras and forced us away. >> after bale and the cnn crew were turned away, chinese security kept up pursuit. actually chased them in a car. bale was in china promoting his new film, which is china's entry for the foreign oscar.

>> howard stern, no stranger to a lot of attention, is returning to television to be a judge on "america's got talent" replacing our own piers morgan on the panel and talk about handing down some "stern" judgment last night. >> i read how you intend to -- when you say a young contestant appearing onstage, you're going to hold out their mothers and harang them before their child performs and make it absolutely clear if you then rip this child's performance to pieces it's not your fault? >> yeah. if you're going to put your children on television could be judged. by the way, i don't know i would do that with my children. i raised three daughters. i don't think that's appropriate. but there are parents who think it's a good idea, and you've got to be damn sure that this is a wise decision before you do it, because not only are you putting your kid out there to be judged, but, you know, if a kid really does have talent, you do need time to nurture that talent, develop that talent.

>> nbc is actually moving the show from los angeles to new york to accommodate stern who, of course, hosts his sir is xm radio show from the big apple. the parents television council, not happy about this saying it was an act of desperation for a flailing network. >> although what he said was so responsible. >> it was. and a lot of people are going to watch. he has a lot of fans out there. >> yes, he does. the department of justice going after america's toughest sheriff. sheriff joe arpaio is too tough on latinos, accusing him of racial profiles. oh, you can bet the sheriff is firing back. two tough guy politicians, senator john mccain and russian prime minister vladimir putin in a war of words that got personal. so who called who "crazy"? we'll tell you what happened. it's 41 minutes after the hour. welcome to idaho,

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welcome back to "american morning." i think we need a vodka summit. senator john mccain and russian prime minister vladimir pootd pn a war of words. it started when senator mccain tweeted the arab spring is coming to moscow referring to

the protests and allegations has recent russian elections were rigged. putin accused mccain are going crazy because of his time in the hanoi hitten in vietnam. listen. >> he had been he would not just in jail but was put 24 a pit where he was kept for several years and any person under those circumstances would hardly remain mentally sane. >> senator mccain responded to being called "nuts" last night on "john king usa." take a look. >> he said that i was "nuts," but, and in a way it is a bit amusing, but it's also very serious. my point was that i have told -- you and i have discussed other time on this program, arab spring is spreading around the world, to china, to russia, to every country where there is an oppressive or repressive government and the people want their freedom, and they want their democracy. >> it didn't end there. mccain then needled putin with a

tweet after his rant that said, dear vlad, is it something that i said? carol? >> the u.s. justice department is releasing a scathing report accusing america's toughest sheriff, joe arpaio, of violating the civil rights of latinos. the sheriff is firing back calling the report a sad day for america as a whole. here's more from cnn's casey wian. >> reporter: maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio often brawlings brawlings -- brags about being the toughest sheriff in the nation. his practices are violating the rights of latinos against -- in the county. >> the conduct that he observed involved the most egregious racial profiles in the united states that he ever personally observed. >> reporter: a blistering

investigative report accuses arpaio's department of the unlawful detention and arrest of latinos. unlawful retaliation against critics and discrimination against spanish-speaking jail inmates. the charges are civil. there's also an ongoing criminal investigation. the government says both have been delayed by a lack of cooperation by the sheriff's department. >> i do have compassion, but i'll tell you one thing, enforcing the law overrides my compassion. that's at simple as you can get it. i took an oath of office. i am enforcing the state and the federal law. >> reporter: the department of homeland security says it will restrict maricopa's access to federal and immigration resources and the just it department feidentified what it calls other areas of concern including excessive force against latino, lack of adequate police protection in latino

neighborhoods and facial to investigation s investigation sex yule -- sex you'll assaults. it has given the county six months to show good faith cooperation or face these allegations in court. casey wian, cnn, los angeles. 48 minutes after the hour. still ahead, the campaign battle between newt gingrich and mitt romney has become -- let's just call it a family affair. >> their wives are now in the spotlight with romney trying to geet gingrich's marital history an issue. we're back after this. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank.

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[ boy ] dad! [ male announcer ] chevy runs deep. 49 minutes after the hour. what you need to know to start your day -- today congress must stroet avoid a partial government shutdown. overnight negotiators agreed on a massive spending bill that will fund the government through october of next year. the last debate before the real battle for the nomination begins. gop candidates battling it outside in iowa last night trying to pick apart the front-runner, newt gingrich. gingrich defending his conservative values and his electability. penn state assistant coach mike mcquery is expected to testify today at a preliminary hearing for two former university officials. tim. >> caller: -- tim curley and r schultz, this in the sandusky

case. and a cold shutdown achieved at the daiichi power plant in fukushima. that means temperatures in the damaged reactors consistently remained below the boiling point. novelist peterson grant add new trial after spending time in jail for the 2003 murder of his wife kathleen. a judge set him free saying jurors were misled about blood-stained evidence by a state investigator. in a few hours barry bonds will learn his sentence for obstructing just kniss a federal investigation of sports doping. baseball's home run king faces 15 months in prison but could get probation, and home confinement. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" is back after this.

welcome back to "american morning." we are less than three weeks away from the iowa caucuses, and as newt gingrich and mitt romney battle it out we're seeing more of the candidates' wives. most notely, mitt romney's wife of 42 years as his campaign looks to play the marriage card. cnn's joe johns has that part of the story. >> reporter: what usually doesn't work very well in a presidential campaign is for some guy to interrupt an event and start shouting embarrassing questions about a candidate's personal life. >> seems like you have a -- >> how would you know? >> cheating onor wife. >> how the -- other than that other than personal hostility. >> reporter: harder to deal with, for example, the wife of contender mitt romney in a living room in iowa with a few

dozen supporters. >> i look back and i think of how my husband has been. the kind of guy you can count on, and that's the personal side of him that people don't know about. >> reporter: how long has mitt romney been married to the same woman? by the time this is over you might eventually have it memorized. >> i've been married to the same woman for 25 -- excuse me, i'll get in trouble. for 42 years. >> reporter: they love to think of their spouses as separate weapons. romney is on the trail to humanize her husband and try to make him more appearing but letter appearances are a bid for values voters, women voters and voters for whom trust is a big issue. >> that he is a strong family man with values and that matters to him and that's where his world is. >> reporter: contrasting romney with gingrich who's had a much more complicated personal life. >> the romney campaign is almost certainly putting out there to highlight the couple's 42 marriage and her children and romney is a family man as

opposed to newt gingrich, who is right now on his third marriage. >> reporter: not only married three times but gingrich admitted adultery, asked god for forgiveness and converted to catholicism, the faith of his wife calista. seen on the campaign trail but not heard nearly as much. >> newt and i are determined to run a positive issue-oriented and solutions based campaign. >> reporter: republican political veteran mayor madeleine says some values voters might want it know more about the gingrich personal story. for many it's news that's a decade old. >> people discounted him. already knew about newt's marriage history and they've discarded that as a concern about him. >> reporter: for her part, ann romney is not trying to compare and contrast her personal life with newt gingrich but campaign insiders have said they think the former speaker's past personal life is one of his liabilities. joe johns, cnn, washington. ahead in the next hour, new

information on that downed u.s. drone. the u.s. military changes its story about the drone's mission, and iran coming out way new story, too, on exactly how it brought the drone down. and actor christian bale, chased down and roughed up by chinese police. find out why in a cnn exclusive. it's 56 minutes after the hour. "american morning" will be back after this. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink

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i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. a hail mary from rick perry on the final debate before the iowa caucuses. the two front-runners try to convince voters they're the best republican to face president obama. drone wars. iran claims it hacked a u.s. spy plane that went down on its turf and the u.s. admits it wasn't just watching the border. and christian bale roughed up by undercover agents in china. cnn was along for the ride. what the government did not want that man top see on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

as low blow. but it was funny. >> what are you going to do? it's friday, your favorite day of the wix week. my too. nine days before christmas. i'm alina cho along with carol costello on this "american morning." glad you're with us. >> good morning. gop candidates going head-to-head for the last time before the primary season begins. the front-runner newt gingrich plays defense on his conservative values and his electability. mitt romney held steady, not running away from his business background, and no bets this time either. and strangely, denver broncos quarterback tim tebow of all people made his way into the debate. jim acosta live in sioux city, iowa. that had to be the best line of the night, jim. >> reporter: it really was, carol, and, you know, for newt gingrich, he probably wished he had a few more good lines to deliver, because it was a tough night for the former speaker. he found out early what it was like to be the front-runner in the final weeks before the iowa caucuses. he was hit hard especially by

michele bachmann, who has been pretty far back in the polls as of late, but was trying to, you know, get back in the running for the iowa caucuses, and she went right amp the former speaker. it was curious to see newt gingrich engage with michele bachmann, because he is so far ahead of her in the polls. but at one point, the former speaker suggested that congresswoman bachmann does not have her facts straight when it comes to some of her personal attack on gingrich and she rede of remarks. >> sometimes congresswoman bachmann doesn't get her fracts accurate. >> i think it's outrageous to continue to say overand over in the debates that i don't have my facts right when as a matter of fact i do. i'm a serious candidate for president of the united states, and my facts are accurate. >> reporter: now, contrast that with mitt romney.

he was not really challenge add great deal by the other candidates onstage. newt gingrich did not try to do that. the other candidates did not try to do that. it didn't happen until later in the debate when the moderators chose to do so. this was a pretty well-executed plan by governor romney, because earlier this week, as you know, he was going after newt gingrich even calling him zany, and in an interview with the "new york times," gingrich never really had a chance to go after mitt romney on that. he sort of volunteered a re response to that comment at one point in the debate. here to is. >> sometimes i guess accused of using language that is too strong. so i've been standing here editing. i'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany. >> reporter: so there you go. not trying to be zany. and speaking of zany, it might have struck some as being a little wacky to hear rick perry bring up the issue of tim tebow. you know what?

he has been a darling of the evangelical movement in this country ever since he's been on that nfl, come-from-behind victories. rick perry drew that analogy and didn't waste time. got it in in the first 12 mithts minutes of the debate. >> a lot of folks said tim tooep tebow wasn't going to be a very good nfl quarterback. won two national championships. look pretty good. am i ready for the next level? let me tell you i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> reporter: funny thing, if you did polling and added tim tebow in the mix of the field, he might be pretty close to being a front-runner at this point, guys. we're at a steel factory here in sioux city where mitt romney will be here later this morning. it's interesting to see how well he did in that debate last night and how he's sort of hanging in there in the iowa caucuses.

somewhere close behind newt gingrich, sort of in second place with ron paul. if mitt romney could pull off and upset victory in the caucuses, go to new hampshire and win that primary, this race could get totally flipped upside down again. everybody thinking newt gingrich would be strong in these early contests. it may be mitt romney after what we saw last night, guys. >> jim acosta reporting live this morning. thanks. talking about mitt romney some more, he's picking up an endoers nant could go a long way in one critical early and conservative state. according to a report from politico, nikki haley will announce she's endorsing mitt romney for the party's nomination this morning. some suggested haley's endor endorsement could be pale despite her polling number. and a government shutdown, feel like deja vu? it should. we've been here before eight times just this year with just 17 hours to spare, it appears congress reached a deal to keep

the government running. our kate bolduan is live in washington for us. kate, good morning. >> reporter: hey there, good morning, alina. late last night after marathon negotiations on capitol hill, congress' lead goert e finding a way to solve the fiscal deficit issue. congress nearly averted a government shut dourch and abwn. a meeting is scheduled this morning to speak with their members about the spending bill as well as outstanding issues they still have not agreed on. key negotiators hoped both the house and senate will be able to vote on this spending bill today to kind of set to rest any fears of a government shutdown. maybe we should say this time around. >> you know, with the clock

still ticking on that one, of course, there's a lot of unfinished business there in washington, including the payroll tax cut. so what's still under negotiation, and is there a chance anything will get done before the end of the year, kate? >> reporter: it remain as question. i'll tell you, while there was a glimmer of bipartisan agreement last night on the spending bill, they are still not there yet. the major contentious -- issues in this fight, thousand extend payroll tax cut, nationwide insurance and a scheduled cut to payments to doctors who treat medicare patients, something that is really needed to do every year or so. aides said negotiations are still happening, they are making progress, but they are not there yet. they still have some issues they have to deal with and in lieu of an agreement, senate democrats are floating a short-term extension of possibly two months of an extension of the payroll tax cut in order to avoid the tax increases they would say to many americans in their paycheck

come january, but that could mean, of course, we will be back here in a couple of months, but they still say they're still pushing to try to get that one-year deal on the payroll tax cut extension. talk be continuing today. >> i believe you'll be very busy. kate, thank very much. penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary is expected to testify later today at a preliminary hearing for two former university officials. mcqueary, a former star quarterback at penn state, is now a star witness in the case against tim curley and gary schultz. the former university officials are charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. reporter susan candiotti reports at many as five witnesses are scheduled to testify today. this just into cnn, russian customs officials confirmed they have seized radioactive material from the luggage of a passengers. the unidentified flier was on his way to iran from moscow's

international airport when officials detected some 18 metal objects packed in steel cases. they tell cnn those objects are radioactive isotopes which could only be obtained from a nuclear reactor operation. we will ge live to moscow in 20 minutes for more. wow. new information today about the u.s. drone that went down in iran. for the first time the military official admits it was looking for iran's nuke sites. iran also says it was able to hack the drone and there's more to prove it. chris lawrence has the latest from the pentagon. >> reporter: he's a soldier who only holds the rank of private first class. but to save him, bradley's team submit add witness list of some of the most power ifful people in the country including hillary clinton and the president. >> both can testify to the impact of the release of these documents on national security. >> we apologize for that. inadvertently ran the wrong

chris lawrence piece and will get the right one up and running after a break. >> all right. still to come this morning, which candidate will you be talking about? we'll get out score cards for the final debate before iowa. in a was last night. how did the candidates do? we'll tell you. and from russia with no love. vladimir putin suggesting senator john mccain is nuts. mccain says the seasons are changing in moscow. no red carpet treatment for actor christian bale in china. he had a, well, let's call it a close encounter with chinese security. we'll tell what you triggered it in a cnn exclusive. you're watching "american morning." it's nine minutes after the hour. terol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's like having portable navigation. a bluetooth connection. a stolen vehicle locator.

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now back to the new information on that u.s. drone that went down in iran. the u.s. military for the first time is admitting that it was looking for iran's nuclear sites. our chris lawrence has the latest from the pentagon. >> reporter: u.s. officials now admit an american stealth drone was spying on iran. it's an about-face from when it crashed when officials claimed it was only flying on the

afghanistan side of the border. strictly looking for insurgence, not spying. even then we heard doubts. >> could have been deliberately eyesed in iran and it's very likely, in fact, that it was a reconnaissance platform of choice to do precisely that, to take a look at iran's nuclear weapons system. >> reporter: u.s. military officials now confirm the se sentinel was flying suspected nuclear sites. it didn't know what the drone was doing because it was being run by the cia. the afghan government wasn't informed either. afghan president hamid karzai wants his nation kept out of the iran/u.s. rift. >> that afghanistan's sovereignty and integrity is not used one against the other. >> reporter: but the u.s. defense secretary suggested the flights will not stop. >> part and parcel of our effort to defend this country and to defend our country involves

important intelligence operations, which we will continue to pursue. >> reporter: the christian science monitor spoke with an iranian engineer who claims iran hacked the u.s. drone and guided it down intact. >> basically spoof the drone into thinking that it was landing where it was supposed to be but in fact landing where the hackers, these spoofers, wanted it to land. >> reporter: u.s. officials claim it was a technical problem. one former intelligence official says the sentinel is impossible it see, and dismissed iran's claims, but aviation experts say there's evidence iran may have the capability to jam the drone's gps link. >> its design is not to shoot down an enany in the old way. it's more to learn what the ensmi doing and maybe react and shoot down the enemy in a very 21st century way. >> reporter: how much intelligence will iran really get out of its prize? by all accounts, the sentinel is one of america's most sophisticated drones, but

several aviation experts tell us, it's not "the" most sophisticated stealth technology and there are several systems coming online in the next couple of years that will make it outdated. chris lawrence, cnn, the pentagon. the two front-runners in the gop race trying to prove they have the conservative stuff it takes last night in the final debate before the all-important iowa caucuses and the rest of the field saw a chance to go on the attack. who came out on top? republican strategist and former congresswoman susan molinari is here, supporting mitt romney and cnn political contributor bill bennett author of "the book of man" is here, too. welcome to you both. >> thank you. >> start with you, susan. you are supporting romney, like i said. a lot of people think he sort of sat on the sidelines but did well in the end, and a lot of people also think newt gingrich did terrible in the first hour of the debate and kind of rebounded. what did you think? >> well, i think it actually was a perfect storm for mitt romney

because he was able to really keep his focus on president obama and constantly took the questions, even if the questioners were trying to get him to go after some of the other candidates. really kept his focus on the obama administration and the things that he thought were massive disappointments in terms. way this country is run from an economic and foreign policy arena but had people like ron paul and michele bachmann, who were pretty consistent in attacking and poking holes in just about everything speaker gingrich was saying 2it was a good night for romney and you consistently saw he kept hits footing. he got it back. lost it a little in the last debate and what we've seen all along is him looking presidential, and i think he maintained that kpoesh are through the debate last night. >> made no bets and didn't get testy. >> exactly. exactly. >> bill, i want to ask you, gingrich is getting -- attacks come from everywhere. right? calling gingrich this unreliable conservative who tried to defend

himself in the debate last night. let's listen. >> i ball,ed the budget for four straight years paid off $405 billion in debt, pretty conservative. the first wealth entitlement reform of your leitchtime. the only was welfare. two our three people went back to work or school. pretty conservative. first tax cut in 16 years largest capital gains cut in american history. unemployment, 2.4%. very conservative. the conservative thing is laughable to suggest somebody who campaigned with ronald reagan and with jack kemp and had a 30-year record of conservatism is somehow not a conservative? >> he says it's laughable, but these attacks are coming from very well-respected conservatives. >> yeah. he's in the reminding business. now, while critics remind people about newt's heresies and he's reminding people of the overall conservative record. during great days of conservatism, newt was one of the major players. right and smart to do that, but

he is under attack, and i have to say, michele bachmann showed -- she's looks like a prosecutor last night. extremely tough on newt, and i don't think his response was satisfy. so we'll see. you know, interesting. about two weeks ago, carol, people said it may be too late for romney to recover, because it was getting so close to the iowa caucuses. turns out, that really is what, we used phrase, an eternity. things can change several more time, and i thought he a -- had a couple bright moments, but as susan noticed if you're with newt, newt's got to be the smartest guy in the room. often she the smartest guy in the room, but also the most unpredictable. >> and will remind you he's the smartest in the room. >> as you both know he rubbed many women, especially southern women in the wrong way. >> right. >> when he started questioning michele bachmann's mastery of the facts, she got angry. this is what she said.

let's listen. >> i think it's outrageous to continue to say over and over through the debates that i don't have my facts right when as a matter of fact i do. i'm a serious candidate for president of the united states, and my facts are accurate. >> that last part, susan, really struck me. i am a serious candidate for the president of the united states. was she hinting at something more? >> well, you know, men are never going to learn that they have to be very careful when they debate a woman. and to me this was one of the highlights of the debate. good for you, michele bachmann, for -- because the speaker wasn't only saying, you have your facts wrong, he was kind of dismissive in the way that he said it, and it kind of irked me and i bet it irked a lot of women who aren't michele bachmann fans. i think she was really right to stand up and say you know, don't dismyseiss me or get my facts wrong.

i'm standing on the stage right next to you as a presidential candidate. she acquitted her very well. >> bill, would you awe agree? did you notice anything in his demeanor? >> got a lot peaked. lost a bit of temper there. she's saying, he's not really responsive too. trying to make a distinction between being an official lobbyist and having influence with sienior republicans about freddie mac and f.and fannie ma. given the mess we're in, taken $1.6 million and did i hear a little bit of a brag, i was very wealthy man at the time, didn't really need this money? >> also said he was pushing regulations that he was also supporting. you know -- housing. he wanted to enable many americans to have a house. what's wrong with that? >> yeah. he should have reached for, i'm the tim tebow of this campaign, something perry-like.

look, this is what happened when you're the front-runner. subject to attacks and he'll get a lot more of them. >> both of your predictions, susan, your prediction. will newt gingrich win iowa? >> i don't think he will. i think that it will be interesting to see who will win iowa. at this point i think governor romney has momentum and we have to go back to, we watch these thing on tv but what a lot of this has to do with, particularly in a caucus state is your ground game. your supporters, your campaign team. newt's been a little late to the table in terms of being able to organize a serious ground strategy. >> bill? >> my worry, that ron paul wins iowa. i think, he's got a great ground game. i don't admire his positions very much. if he wins iowa, he gets puffed up, takes stuff seriously. and then i worry about a third party candidacy. this thing ain't over in iowa, though. after new hampshire and iowa, this is not over, i don't think. >> i totally agree. >> thank you susan very much. i'd like to talk to bill about christopher hitchens, he, of course, died overnight. after a long battle with cancer.

your very close friend. you had many a great debate. if you could say a few words about christopher hitchens? >> am great debate. a man on the right, he's a man on left. relentless honest is and integrity. we would get together at lunch, drink heavily, i would have to go home and half asleep. take on the next person and debate pap remarkable man. great brighter. also well known in this debates as an atheist. my hope he is getting a glorious surprise. that is my hope and prayer for christopher hitchens. >> fascinating, he talked a lot about atheism when he knew he was going to die. >> wouldn't take the cheap way out in the foxhole. i hope he'll say, goodness, i was wrong all those years. that's my prayer. >> thank you for those words. we'll be right back. ♪

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welcome back. "minding your business" this morning. stocks break a three-day losing streak thanks to update reports on both the jobs markets and manufacturing. this morning, u.s. stock futures are also trading higher. in italy, a crucial confidence vote this morning on an austerity package designed to help the eurozone's third largest economy get its finances in order. the vote is needed to help ensure passage of the $39 billion package of tax hikes and spending cuts. mortgage rates falling to record lows. according to freddie mac the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3. -- 94%.

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30 minutes after the hour. welcome back to "american morning" for a friday. top stories -- russian officials tell cnn they discovered and seized radioactive material from the luggage of a passengers. the unidentified flyer on his way to iran from moscow's international airport when officials found 18 metal object packed in steel cases. a live report from moscow coming up in a few minutes.

it looks like in will be no government shutdown. overnight congressional leaders struck a $1 trillion deal. that agreement must stiting voted on by tonight's deadline, there's still no agreement, however, on extending the payroll tax cut. and wikileaks suss specialty army private bradley manning could speak at his arraignment hearing at a military base in maryland. bradley is charged with 22 counts of violating mill 25er code for allegedly leaking hundreds thoufs of classified documents that wound up being published on wikileaks. from star quarterback to star witness, mike mcqueary is expected to testify today in ta preliminary hearing for two former penn state officials. tim curley, the ex athletic director and gary schultz a former university vice president, both men charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. susan candiotti is live in harrisburg, pennsylvania, this morning. what should we expect to happen in court, susan? >> reporter: hi, carol. we got word moments ago weren't

of the two co-defendants in this case, tim curley, has just entered the courthouse. what we're expecting is to hear from at least three to five witnesses who will testify likely among them mike mcqueary. the assistant coach who is now on leave. he is a key witness for the prosecution, and it's up to the prosecutors in this case to give a mini preview to the judge saying that mike mcqueary, what he told the grand jury, and that he allegedly told both those penn stated officials what he saw in a locker room back in 2002, that he saw a boy allegedly being raped by jerry sandusky, and that he told this information to those officials. yet they are charged with not reporting it to anyone, and they deny that mike mcqueary told them that information. that's why they're charged with perjury before a grand jury. >> as for the defense of this case, is it expected to call witnesses? >> reporter: yes.

as we indicated, mike mcqueary, to be among them. and we might even marhear in a fashion from joe paterno who as a result of this whole scandal was fired from his job as head coach. because of his bad health, he's not expected to appear in person, but it possible that authorities would read his testimony to the grand jury into the record, and the grand jury has said that joe paterno acknowledged that mike mcqueary told him that he saw something of a sexual nigch nature at the very least. remember, carol, this is the first time we're going to hear from mike mcqueary, in his own words, we expect, precisely what he said to joe paterno. precisely what he said to schultz and to curley as opposed to simply the sumly thmary we h heard from the grand jury presentment. >> and so many stories about what exactly tim curley said. maybe that will be cleared up as well. susan candiotti live from harrisburg, pennsylvania,

thanks. how do prosecutors make the case tim curley and mike schultz committed perjury? how common is this? bring in legal contributor paul cowen. back to the basics here. why curly and schultz are being charged with perjury. this is a little complicated. i want to run through it. it goes back to what each told the grand jury. mcqueary says he told then athletic director tim curley and then administrator schultz he witnessed sandusky raping a boy in the shower. curley testified mcqueary only reported inappropriate conduct that made him uncomfortable. nothing more than horsing around. schultz then testified that there was inappropriate sexual conduct, groping essentially, but no sex. he also said the allegations made were not that serious and that he had no indication a crime occurred. we're hearing lots of different stories here. first of all, how common is a case like this, and is there a case here? >> it's very, very uncommon to see perjury charges lodged

against anybody. i mean, we always hear about it on television. do you know that you're under oath? do you know what the penalties for perjury are? you always see that scene in a cross-examination in all of the tv shows. in truth, few lawyers have seen a perjury case. they're hard to prove. hard to get convictions because they turn on an interpretation of words. >> right. exactly what's going on here. >> that's exactly what's going on here. there's a -- you know, a claim that the word sexual contact, or sexual activity was used. as opposed to just horsing around, and can you be horsing around in the context of sexual activity? this is -- they're going to be arguing about things like that to determine ultimately, is this a lie under oath? >> let's talk about what will happen in that hearing today. or at least what you think will happen. there are at least three, if not more, versions of mike mcqueary's story that are floating around out there. so definitely inconsistencies.

is there a chance that the defense could go after mcqueary in that hearing today? >> oh, i think you'll see the defense very aggressively going after mcqueary. the xweshgs how aggressive will the judge allow them to be? >> right. >> but bear in mind, everything depends on mcqueary's statement that he told them certain things. the most damaging being that he actually witnessed the child being raped in the shower. now, if he told that to them or one of them, and they didn't report it, they're going to be guilty, or at least one would be guilty of perjury. now, if mcqueary told other versions to other people it will undermine his believability or credibility. but here's the ultimate question -- we don't know what's going on in the background here. does the prosecutor have more evidence? we don't know everything that mcqueary told the grand jury. i'll give you an example. suppose mcqueary said to the grand jury, yes, i told different things to different people, because i was humiliated

by the fact that i hadn't acted to protect the child. so finally, when i sat down with curley and schultz, i told them exactly what i saw. there may be a very plausible explanation for mcqueary's conduct that we're not aware of. of course, i'm speculating about that. i have no idea. it's secret, the grand jury testimony, but we're going to get a look into that secret process today to see why the grand jury indicted for perjury. >> there's obviously a lot of talk about you know, former head coach joe paterno not doing enough as well. could we see more cases? >> paterno's involvement is interesting. he's ill now, but could have come in as a potential witness on this as well. i don't think you're going to see paterno indicted for perjury or anything like that. i have a feeling we're done with the paterno part of the case. except the fact that he ruled penn state and it's really the explanation in the end, why did these guys not act? why would they look to cover up? paterno was king.

football was king. >> right. >> and it's a company town. and i think a lot of people are afraid they'd lose jobs if the football team was put out of business. that's sort of the back story to why these men may not have reported what they should have reported. >> let's not forget what a big business it is as well. you know, bottom line here, you know, do you think that the courts are just trying to make an example of these two men, curley and schultz? or is there really something here legally? i mean, could they actually be convicted? i know there's a high bar here. could they actually be convicted and if so then what happens? >> it's a very, very shaky perjury case. there may be a case that can be presented to a jury, but proving beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard and a tough case for the prosecution. on the other hand, this is a very, very serious situation. if, in fact, sandusky was involved with 50 kouthts countsd abuse and penn state knew about it and did nothing about it, that's very serious. how many children have been

damaged? how many childhoods taken away because these individuals didn't do what they were supposed to do, report him. have him investigated and thrown uft campus. if all of this is true, this is very serious, and prosecutors are doing the right thing in proceeding. ultimate in our system, a jury decides this and frankly, we don't know enough at this point. they're all presumed innocent. let's see how it played out in an american courtroom. >> a case where the side cases outside of the jury znld zsandu spotlight are quite interesting. paul cowen, great to see you. thank you. >> nice being with you. >> carol? >> thanks, alina. still ahead, amazing individual ye, extreme kayaking a daredevil takes on a 90-foot waterfall throwing caution and his paddle to the wind. wait until you see the view from his helmet cam. and actor christian bale trying to escape chinese police. what they did not want limb to see.

it's a cnn exclusive. and prussian prime minister vladimir putin suggesting mccain is nuts. what the senate said that set putin off. you're watching "american morning." it's 40 minutes past the hour. i'm kind of a fixture in different parts of town... some folks call me a rock star, some call me the mayor... and i love it. and, i make everybody happy. i keep my business insurance with the hartford because... they came through for me once, and i know they've got my back. for whatever challenges come your way... the hartford is here to back you up. helping you move ahead... with confidence. meet some of our small business customers at: thehartford.com/business i don't think about the unknown... i just rock n' roll.

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42 minutes past the hour. welcome back. a university scandal lands smack on the governor's doorstep in florida. [ chanting ] >> hundreds of florida a&m students lining up on governor rick scott's lawn. they're outraged over his recommendation for university trustees to suspend the school president in the wake of hazing and fraud allegations. the governor got out of bed, grabbed his bull horn and addressed the protesters. >> hopefully when this investigation is finished, nobody can question that he's done all the right thing. that's what all is hoped, but why wouldn't he put himself and put the university in a position that is clear there's nobody

questioning how thorough this investigation is. >> that's why we have a disagreement. we don't think it's in the best interests of the student body to have a leave of absence of our president. we are not going to leave until you rescind your recommendation. >> wow. i just can't believe the governor will a bull horn in his home, but it came in handy. right? last month florida drum major killed in a suspected hazing incident and this week three band members arrested in another suspected hazing that left a woman badly beaten. authorities are looking into possible fraud. colton harris-moore better known as the bare foot bandit is expected to plead guilt e today to a string of crimes in washington state before his capture last year in the pa hamm mas, moore went on a two-year crime spreep across nine states and three countries involving stolen cars, boats and planes. moore will be sentenced next month on federal charges.

he could face ten years in priz's. one of the craziest stunts we've seen in a long time. what a rush. take a look. a ki kayaker plunging over the falls in alabama on purpose. he strapped and a helmet cam before he did it. joining brooke baldwin in a cnn newsroom said and says even though think looks crazy, he left nothing to chance. >> i looked at this waterfall multiple times and decided that that day was the right time to kayak off the falls. as you crest over the lip, that's when you lose control. so you have to set your angle and be really focused on your landing from there. the idea is to land with your kayak pointed vertically down so that that was really necessary on this waterfall to keep from being injured. i will not be running the falls again, but i was loving the memory i have of it now.

>> probably a good idea not to tempt fate twice. >> crazy. >> insane. >> never seen anything like that. alexandra steele is along with the forecast. >> how do you practice for something like that? >> you don't. you just pray. >> cross your fingers and jump. >> right. what's happening around the country a few hot spots to kind of be mindful of if traveling, specially in the northeast. dealing with a lumbering front, extending down to the deep south for days. lummering through, bringing through a few different things. rain in the south. wind in the north. the northeast with snow. snow showers in the northeast. especially upstate and western new york. on the hold in the northeast, new england, the winds will be the biggest factor. we actually have wind advisories from burlington to bangor to albany, new york and into boston. gusts, 40 miles per hour. the biggest caveat there.

southern tier of this front, we've got rain. again, not too heavy, but you can see locally heavy rain from memphis to jackson. that will be the story there. so other story today, a typical santa ana event setting up especially around the mountains of southern california. the l.a. mountains and around santa monica mountains, gusting to 60 miles per hour. much more on weather coming upback to you in new york. >> thanks, alexandra. >> thank you. breaking news into cnn. as i was saying, russian customs officials confirming they have seized radioactive material from the luggage of a passenger. bill black is tracking the story, live in moscow. phil what do you know? >> reporter: an unusual developing story, carol, that we're working here at the moment. the facts are still being confirmed here for us. we know that from the russian customs services they say that some sort of radiation alarm weekend off at one of moscow's

two major airports today, and they inspected one of the passengers piece of luggage as a result of that. inside they say they found 18 metal objection packed in individual steel cases. they performed initial tests on these steel cases, and they discovered that they exceeded radiation by 200 -- 20 times according to russian customs. they conducted further tests and discover a radio isotope. according to russian customs can only be obtained from nuclear reactor operation. now, an interesting twist here. while they say those tests, further tests, were being conducted, the passenger, who was due to fly on a flight from moscow to tehran fled. disappeared. they don't know where he is. they are still looking for him. we've spoken to the russian atopic energy agentomic energy division.

they say this particular isotope, na-22 is principally collusively used for medical and scientific research, and they do not believe that the level of radiation is particularly great. they do not think that it would be anymore than a passenger would receive by taking any other passenger flight. they also make the point they do not believe it is only exclusively obtained through nuclear react operations. conflicting information there, but obviously some concern as well with a passenger, an iranian man we understand trying to take some form of nuclear isotope on to a flight to tehran. some conflicting information between the russian agencies here at the moment, carol, but we'll gept more as soon as we can. >> i know you're trying to gather more information, but the guy got away? they confiscate something like this and the guy runs away? >> reporter: that, i guess, is the extraordinary, and perhaps indeed the most suspicious aspect ever all this.

we understand as soon as his luggage as isolated he knew was being checked, he fled, and, yes, he successfully got away. i match tln was some sort of lag between when they were simply conducting a follow-up check and when they actually realized what they maybe dealing with, but whatever that time span was, it was enough for that man was enough for that man to leave the scene, if you like. we're told a criminal investigation is now under way and no surprise they're searching for him. carol? >> unbelievable. i know you'll gather more information for us. thanks so much for joining us live, we appreciate it. phil black reporting live from moscow this morning. still to come on "american morning," sam hurt busted and in jail this morning. find out what authorities say he did. 50 minutes after the hour. we're back after this. the next , you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids.

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and stay up late. getting lost in the things we love has never felt quite like this. 52 minutes past the hour. here's what you need to know to start your day. the last debate before the real battle for the nomination begins. gop candidates battling it out in iowa last night trying to pick apart the frontrunner, newt gingrich. defending his electability. today congress must vote on a last-minute deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. negotiators came to an agreement on a massive spending bill that will fund the government through october of next year. army private bradley manning facing an arraignment hearing today at a military base. he leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents that

wound up being published on wikileaks. christopher hitchens has died after a long battle with cancer. he had been a contributing editor to "vanity fair" for the past two decades. he was 62 years old. sam hurd hoping to work out bond this morning after being busted on federal drug charges. authorities said he met with an undercover federal agent on wednesday night with the intention of buying 22 pounds of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of pot per week. you're now caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" is back after a short break.

welcome back. christian bale in china for the premiere of his new film had a run-in with chinese security. bale tried to visit a blind human rights activist who has been held in his home for more than 15 months. as the actor got roughed up and chased. cnn cameras were rolling. >> why can i not go visit this man? >> reporter: hollywood actor christian bale is used to action, but this is no movie set. plain clothed chinese security who would not identify themselves determined to stop him and our crew human rights activist. >> watch it, christian. >> we're trying to get out of here. once again, we've been stopped and we've been stopped right here and, as you can see, they are pushing christian here. we're just trying to leave peacefully. >> reporter: as we leave, the guards give chase in their car.

>> they're still right on our tail. >> reporter: christian bale says this is not what he hoped for, he made an eight-hour car journey from beijing to meet a personal hero. the blind, self-taught lawyer. >> i'm not being brave doing this. the local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit him and his family and being detained and everything for it. i want to support what they're doing. >> reporter: he is in china for the premiere of the film that he made. bale could have rolled up the red carpet and left, but the actor whose movie is about suffering and injustice could not leave china without highlighting this real-life struggle. he has campaigned against allege forced abortions. in 2006, he was sentenced to more than four years in prison

for disrupting traffic and damaging property. he denies those allegations. he has not been allowed to leave his home since his release last year. local chinese authorities have his house and local village in lockdown. no one allowed in to see chen. authorities here declined to comment on the case. the united states is champion chen's cause. secretary of state hillary clinton has raised his case during past visits to the region. christian bale wants to add whatever weight he can. >> this doesn't come naturally to me, but this was just a situation. i said, i can't look the other way. >> reporter: bale husband faas cnn's case and his hopes were high to meet the blind activist until this. >> what i really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and tell him thank you. >> reporter: the chinese security continued to chase us for more than half an hour.

we got away. chen remains locked in his house. stan grant, cnn, china. >> incredible story. that was cnn's stan grant from beijing. still to come, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a spy drone. unmanned aircraft key in the war on terror now helping to catch criminals right here at home. we'll talk about it in our next hour. and students suspended for tebowing. boy, did they pay for it. you're watching "american morning." just about 8:00 eastern. the droid razr by motorola.

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gop candidates get their last chance to pick apart each other before primary season begins on this "american morning." good morning to you. happy friday. it's december 16th. i'm carol costello along with alina cho. first up this hour, gop candidates going head-to-head for the first time before primary season begins. newt gingrich playing defense on his conservative valus and his electability. >> mitt romney held steady, not running away from his business background, gut overall playing it safe. did that strategy work? jim acosta is live in sioux city, iowa, for us. chilly out there, jim. good morning. >> yeah. yeah, it was chilly last night for newt gingrich, too. he found out what it is like to be the frontrunner in this gop field and the weeks heading into the iowa caucuses he was hit

early and hit hard. michele bachmann was leading the charge and went after the issue on how the former speaker took all that money from the mortgage giant freddie mac five or six years ago. newt gingrich tried to fight back but bachmann had him on the ropes. here's how it went. >> i was trying to see these two entities put into bankruptcy because they frankly need to go away when the speaker had his hand out and he was taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going in washington, d.c. that's absolutely wrong. >> that's just not true. what she said is factually not true. i never lobbied under any circumstance. i never went and suggested in any way that we do this. >> you don't need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to still be influenced peddling with senior

leaders in washington, d.c. to get them to do your bidding. >> i only chose to work with people whose values i shared. >> all right, that was not a good moment for newt gingrich because conservatives right now in the republican party -- oh, boy. >> bad timing. bad timing, jim. >> morning, everybody. hi. kind of sums up the morning for us here in sioux city, guys. i was going to say, i was going to say that later on in the debate michele bachmann went after newt gingrich and said hang all of the facts that i laid out and these facts have been true and even politifact checked me out. they came out later this morning and said, by the way, pants on fire for that comment. >> interesting.

interesting. meanwhile, you know, rick perry seemed to have the line of the night. you know, comparing himself to tim tebow right, jim? >> yeah, he really did. you know, he's going to need to be tim tebow to win the iowa caucuses, he's so far back in the caucuses right now. a political reason to bring this up. tim tebow is beloved in the evangelical movement and he's appealing to those voters to win these caucuses and i have to say, i think the winner of the night was mitt romney. he did not go after newt gingrich, so, that kept basically gingrich off of his back after scorching the former speaker all week long and then this morning, it was announced by the romney campaign, he has picked up the endorsement of south carolina governor nicky haley. that's a crucial endorsement and we'll probably hear governor romney talk about that at the

steel factory we're talking out in front of. let's get to the tim tebow moment because it is the funniest moment of the debate. it sure was the funniest. here it is. >> a lot of people out there, i understand it. a lot of folks who said tim tebow wasn't going to be a very good nfl quarterback. people stood up and said he doesn't have the right throwing mechanisms or he's not playing the game right. and, you know, he won two national championships and that looked pretty good. we're the national job creations in texas but i'm ready for the next level. let me tell you, i hope i am the tim tebow of the iowa caucuses. >> so, that was the hail mary pass, as you mentioned, from rick perry on tim tebow. but, let's be honest, the touchdown was really scored this morning by mitt romney landing this endorsement and the tea party movement, mitt romney is way behind newt gingrich in

south carolina. if he could somehow get some momentum here in iowa, win this state or finish a strong second, go into new hampshire, win new hampshire and then go strong into south carolina all of a sudden mitt romney is looking very good this morning. >> we'll let you go before the train blows its whistle, again. i hear it coming. >> i assure you, i'm not standing on the tracks. >> that's a good thing. thanks, jim. now too, the countdown to a government shutdown. feel like deja vu. we've been here a million times before, but i guess the countdown has sort of stopped. eight times just this year, with just 16 hours to spare, it appears that congress has reached a deal to keep the government running. an 11th-hour deal. how about that. kate bolduan is live in washington for us. good morning. >> hey, there. how are you both? it seems that congress has some good news to report, if we will. they may have, they seem to have almost certainly been able to avert a government shutdown.

this came late last night as congressional leaders were able to finalize a deal to fund the government through the rest of fiscal year 2012, which is very good news as they were coming right down to the wire as the latest, the last short-term spending bill was set to run out tonight, so, that's why there were many threats and many concerns, which may have done the job of pressuring members of congress to actually work towards a compromise because they were facing a government shutdown and the very bad public relations that would be for congress with poor approval ratings. so, the house is set to vote on this bill today. the senate is hoping to do the same. we know that house leaders are going to be meeting with their members a little later this morning to discuss this bill and, of course, all the other outstanding measures. not all is agreed to yet as they're all hoping to leave town. >> speaking of that, what about this payroll tax cut holiday? >> they are still negotiating and it seems that this time, that is a good sign because for

a long time the top leaders were not even talking, really, more to just taking their positions and retreating to their corners. so, we're told by aides that they're still talking and negotiating and still hoping to finalize a deal to extend the payroll tax cut for a full year. by the end of the year, when the current tax cut is set to expire, but they're not there yet. in the meantime, senate democrats are now considering a short-term two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, as well as the short-term extension of unemployment insurance and a short-term extension of the so-called dock fix, which is a way to prevent some scheduled cuts to payments to doctors who treat medicare patients. they're considering that. that would cost about $40 billion. aides seem confident they could find some consensus on how to pay for that, if they would need to. it's being described as a fallback or backstop measure and they're still working towards the full deal, but they're not

there. they wanted some assurance that people would not see a tax increase, if you will, come january 1st. but, still, if it's only a two-month extension, we'll be back here in a couple months. >> we'll be on the edge of our seats. kate bolduan, thanks. >> a lot of work. a lot of work to go with two weeks until the end of the year. here's what else is new this morning. penn state's star quarterback will become a star witness against two university officials. mike mcqueary is expected to testify today at a preliminary hearing for two former penn state officials. earlier on "american morning," paul callan said perjury cases can be a real challenge for prosecutors. >> they can hard to prove and they're hard to get convictions because they turn on an interpretation of words, okay. >> that's exactly what's going on here. >> it's exactly what's going on here. you know, there's a claim that the word sexual contact or

sexual activity was used. as opposed to just horsing around and can you be horsing around in the context of sexual activity. this is, they're going to be arguing about things like that to determine, ultimately, is this a lie under oath. >> tim curly, the ex-athletic director and gary shultz both charged with perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. we may finally get to hear from jailed army private bradley manning today. he's facing an arraignment hearing at a military base in maryland for allegedly finding classified documents that wound up being published on wikileaks violating military code from theft of records to aiding the enemy. he could get the death penalty, if he's found convicted. still to come this morning, they helped the military in the overseas war on terror. now, u.s. law enforcement is using spy drones to catch criminals here at home.

some are saying big brother has gone too far. and the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in america under fire this morning for racial profiling. now, arizona's joe arpaio is slamming a federal report accusing him of civil rights abuse. a developing story out of russia. authorities seized radio active material from a passenger's luggage at moscow's airport and that passenger is now missing. an update live from moscow. it's 11 minutes after the hour. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody...

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good morning, new orleans. 59 degrees right now. showers later with a high of 76. welcome back to "american morning." it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a spy drone. could it be an unmanned aircraft in the overseas war on terror might be hovering over a home near you. law enforcement is now using them to catch criminals in the united states.

but the aclu wants to keep big brother out of the sky. joining me now is senior policy analyst for the aclu and co-author of the report, protecting privacy from aerial surveillance. welcome. >> hi, thanks for having me on. >> thank you for being here. let's talk about what happened in north dakota. this was a standoff with three men who were thought to be dangerous and armed. the sheriff thought it was a dangerous emergency situation, so he called in a border patrol drone. what's wrong with that? i mean, it turned out the men were not armed, but at least police knew. >> we don't have a problem with drones being used in a specific situation like that, although we would think it would be better if customs and border protection had authorization to use the drones in that way. because this is a very powerful technology. we have not only the gigantic predator drones that are being used in an overseas battle field but the technology includes all different kinds of sizes of drones, including tiny ones the

size of humming birds and they could become very, very inexpensive in the future and police departments all over america want to use this technology. we need to take some steps and put in checks and balances to make sure they don't become generalized surveillance devices and everybody in america, you know, once they step out the front door have to wonder if some eye in the sky is watching every move they make. >> we see police helicopters hovering overhead all the time and those helicopters have cameras inside them. so, how is this different? >> i mean, that is a fair point. aerial surveillance has been with us for a long time. even the wright brothers, one of the first aircraft that they sold was for aerial surveillance. but helicopters and airplanes are very expensive and the police department can only afford so many of them. a natural limit on how much natural surveillance they can do using that technology. if we're looking at a future in ten years or so where they can buy $50 drones and send them up

in great numbers over our cities then we have to ask, do we need some regulations, some rules and protections in place to govern when they can and cannot use this technology so they don't become tempted to use it to spy on everybody, even if they're not in and a specific law enforcement situation. >> so you're really talking about something like mission and you say it could have chilling effects. do you think we're under constant surveillance, really? >> i mean, a lot of pieces that are coming into play here. police departments around america are chomping at the bit to get this technology. it's getting cheaper and cheaper and more powerful like so many of the technologies these days and police departments have shown a tendency and a temptation to use these kind of technologies for blanket surveillance to make sure nobody is doing anything wrong. that's not the way government is supposed to look in this country. it's supposed to be based on specific evidence that you're

doing something wrong before they spy on you. there are good reasons for us to ask questions before we bring these military technologies from overseas and start using them on our own people to put some checks and balances in place. that's all we're asking for. >> the faa will announce new guidelines next month, they are going to do that. what would you like to see in those guidelines? >> the faa has been really holding up the use of this technology because they have very serious concerns about safety. we don't want these robotic planes crashing into other planes or crashing into people's houses and there have been a number of accidents with these drones. but they're under a lot of pressure politically and from industry to sort of loosen the regulations that govern how this technology works. we're saying that you need to keep an eye on safety, certainly, but also be looking towards privacy because our civilization has certain privacy traditions and heritages and valus and we need to protect those values and not let

technology just sort of change the nature of american life. >> jay stanley from the aclu, thank you for coming in this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. rob marciano is off today and alexandria steele is in the weather forecast. >> good morning to you guys. the corners of the country having a few issue physical you're flying or driving around the country. here in the northeast, really the wind. already actually some power outages in the capital district of new york. winds gusting 30, 35 miles per hour and that will persist through the afternoon and then decrease tonight, but the tailing edge of this, what we have is a rainmaker. rain and wind along the same front. let me show you what's happening in the northeast. predominantly rain and on the whole, just partly cloudy drive and windy day and snow showers throughout the day and kind of dissipating in scope, as will the rain. but, again, the story, very strong, gusty winds. in the southeast, on the tail end of this front, not so much a windmaker, but you can see the

rain. the yellow will show you where the heaviest rain is from memphis to jackson all the way through atlanta a chance for wet showers, but south and east of atlanta, 70 degree temperatures so the warm december continues really for most of the east. story here in the southwest, kind of a typical santa ana scenario setting up. the mountains around southern california and santa monica mountains gusting to about 60 miles per hour today. looking at everyone, if you are flying, the biggest threats and the biggest slow downs. what's happening in the northeast. boston, new york, philadelphia, the strong, gusty winds will slow you down and atlanta isolated in scope and heaviest rain from memphis to houston in the southwest and not only around the l.a. basin, but in phoenix, as well. there's a look at your weather, back to you guys. group of high school seniors from long island have been suspended for tebowing. if you don't know what tebowing is, you have been living in a

cave. i'll explain. it's when you kneel and bow your head in prayer like tim tebow does when he scores. well, four teenagers were sacked with suspensions for organizing mass tebowing in the school hallways. the students were punished because they were clogging the hallways and causing a fire hazard. it has nothing to do with religious discrimination. the students beg to differ. up next on "american morning," you could be getting something for free from some of your favorite retailers today. we'll explain. it's 21 minutes after the hour.

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largest economy get its finances in check. this vote is needed to help ensure passage of the $39 billion package of tax hikes and spending cuts. back here in the united states, mortgage rates are falling, again, to record lows. according to freddie mac, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is down to 3.94%. matching the all-time low hit in early october. so you may want to check into refinancing your mortgage. if you're making an online holiday purchase, today is the day to do it. it's expected that more than 2,000 retailers will pick up your shipping costs today. up next, singer/songwriter mary mcbride is live and we'll ask her why she prefers to perform in homeless shelters when "american morning" continues. it's 25 minutes after the hour. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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>> the conduct that he observed

involved the most egregious racial profiling in the united states. america's toughest sheriff accused of being too tough on latinos. the justice department civil rights case against sheriff joe arpaio on this "american morning." welcome back to "american morning" for a friday. it's 29 minutes after the hour. your top stories right now. last battle before iowa. new defense on gingrich before the final debate. gingrich defending himself about questions against his electability and conservative record and for his work at the troubled mortgage giant, freddie mac. gingrich firing back that he never lobbied under any circumstances. it look like there will be no government shutdown after all. government leaders struck a $1 trillion deal, though that agreement will still be voted on and, of course, still no

agreement on extending the payroll tax cut. japanese officials say they achieved what is called a cold shut down at the power plant in fukushima plant. that means the temperatures are now consistently below the boiling point, but still take decades to completely contain and clean up the disaster. breaking news into cnn. russian custom officials are now confirming they have seized radio active material from the luggage of a passenger. phil black is tracking the story and he's live in moscow. phil, what do we know? >> yeah, carol, let me just talk you through the facts as we know them. this is at moscow's airport. custom officials were screening luggage for passengers on a flight from moscow to tehran, iran's capital.

when a radiation control system detected and sounded an alarm because of something suspicious within one particular passenger's luggage. they searched the luggage and initially determined that radiation tests were high. according to customs, 20 times higher than is found in nature. then on further inspection, opened up the case and found what they say were 18 metal objects packed in individual steel cases. further tests have determined that this is the radio active isotope na22. it certainly sounds alarming. we've been talking to the russian atomic energy agency. they tell us that there is no real risk posed by this material. they say that those radiation levels are not particularly high and if it was taken on to the flight, it is no more radiation than any passenger would have normally experienced on any other sort of commercial flight. that view is being backed up by

other nuclear experts we're speaking to, including the international atomic agency. they say that sodium 22 or na 22, as i say, has medical applications. it does seem that this is principally used in medical and scientific research. but, key question, who was the person who was trying to bring it out of the country in such a way that customs people were initially alarmed by it? we were told he was an iranian man and we understand from customs that while they detected, they detected this radio active material were searching his luggage and so forth, he simply boarded the flight and left on that flight to tehran as expected. we don't actually know if he is aware that his luggage has been intercepted in this way. but he has left the country. he has either arrived or is on his way back to iran, as swwe speak, carol. >> so, could these devices also

be used to make a nuclear weapon? >> the initial things that we are being told by experts in this field is that, no, there is no weapons capability associated with this isotope na22. initially a little alarmed when russian customs told us that this isotope can only be obtained from a nuclear operation and we have been told from a number of sources including the russian atomic agency and other experts in the field that that is not the case. it can be created or obtained in other ways, but, no, it does not have, we are told, any weaponized capability nor is it created in a reactor or used to a fuel a reactor. carol? >> that probably makes a lot of people feel a lot better. >> phil black, live in moscow for us watching that developing story. thank you very much. he is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military documents that wound up being published on

wikileaks. today we may finally get to hear from army private bradley manning. manning is facing an arraignment hearing at a military base in maryland and he's charged with 22 counts of violating military code and he could get the death penalty if he's convicted. our brian todd is live in ft. mead, maryland, following all the developments this morning. brian, good morning. >> as you mentioned, alina, a couple fascinating days. our first chance to maybe get our first look at army private bradley manning and maybe hear from him for the first time and see what he has to say in defense of himself and also our first look at how his defense team is going to make their case. we're told that they've drawn up a very ambitious wish list of potential witnesses, including president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton. why? because they may, may be making the case there is what they call undo command influence on this case. president obama made some public remarks not too long ago saying that he thinks bradley manning

broke the law and his defense team would argue that it would be impossible for him to get a fair trial in a military court, if the prosecutors and others and other people on the jury see their own commander in chief essentially giving his own opinion of this in public. they may argue that it's impossible for him to get a fair trial. of course, it's near impossible that president obama or hillary clinton will appear in these proceedings. so, that will be one issue that comes up. other issues about how private manning has been treated while in custody and some of his background in the military, his lawyer has hinted in the past to us and to other media outlets that private manning acted irratically and acting unhinged that his commanders were aware of that and still did nuthing to get him removed from his intelligence post and removed from the base. that may also come up in these proceedings, alina. >> it has been fascinating to read all the wikileaks

documents. but has it been established, i would imagine this would be a key question going forward. has it been established that the massive leak actually damaged national security? >> his supporters, manning supporters argue that it has never been established that any national security was really breached by this. that no one was hurt or killed as a result of the leaking of this, these hundreds of thousands of documents. one analyst in these kind of cases said that a case could be made possibly that a lot of the stuff is what he called overclassified. that you didn't really need, that the information about a saudi prince having a wild party didn't need to be classified. that was some of the information that came out on the wikileaks case. those are issues that are going to come up. that's one side telling you that national security has not been compromised. this is going to be our first chance today to maybe hear from the prosecutors and maybe any other details that they have been keeping under wraps until now. >> a different version of that

story from the government. thank you very much. still to come this morning, america's toughest sheriff says it's a sad day for america. sheriff joe arpaio responding to a report accusing him of civil rights abuse. more on that controversy straight ahead. 37 minutes after the hour.

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feeling lazy this morning? it's friday. you're allowed. good morning, phoenix. it's still pitch black outside but it's 54 degrees going up to a sunny high of 67. >> that sounds terrific. welcome back, 40 minutes past the hour. the department of justice getting tough on america's toughest sheriff. joe arpaio is under investigation for civil rights abuse. >> he is offering no apologies dismissing it as politics. here's cnn's casey wian. >> reporter: joe arpaio often brags about being the toughest sheriff in america, especially on illegal immigration. now after a three-year investigation, the justice department says his policies and

practices are violating the civil rights of all latinos in this arizona county. >> our expert found that latino drivers are four to nine times more likely to be stopped than similarly situated nonlatino drivers. the conduct that he observed involved the most egregious racial profiling in the united states that he had ever personally observed. >> reporter: a blistering investigative report accuses arpaio's report of the detention and arrest of latinos. unlawful retaliation against critics and discrimination against spanish-speaking inmates. the charges are civil and also an ongoing civil investigation. a lack of cooperation by the sheriff's department. >> i do have compassion, but i'll tell you one thing, enforcing the law overrides my compassion. it's as simple as you can get it. i took an oath of office. i am enforcing the state and the federal laws.

>> reporter: the department of homeland security says it will restrict access to federal immigration resources. the justice department also identified what it called other areas of concern, including the use of excessive force against latinos. lack of adequate police protection in latino neighborhoods and the failure to investigate sexual assaults. the justice department cites the los angeles police department as an example of a law enforcement agency that has successfully reformed after allegations of civil rights violations. it has given sheriff arpaio 60 days to show good faith cooperation or face these allegations in court. casey wian, cnn, los angeles. still to come this morning, singer/songwriter mary mcbride will be live in our "american morning" studios. we'll ask her why she's passing on the big arenas to perform in senior shelters and prisons. >> wow. the model in these photos isn't just turning heads, but

also changing minds about how the fashion world sells clothing. it's 43 minutes past the hour. the other office devices? they don't get me. they're all like, "hey, brother, doesn't it bother you that no one notices you?" and i'm like, "doesn't it bother you you're not reliable?" and they say, "shut up!" and i'm like, "you shut up." in business, it's all about reliability. 'cause these guys aren't just hitting "print." they're hitting "dream." so that's what i do. i print dreams, baby. [whispering] big dreams.

45 minutes past the hour. here are your morning headlines. markts open in 45 minutes and right now u.s. stock futures are trading higher after a positive day yesterday. today congress must vote on a last-minute deal to avoid a partial government shutdown. overnight negotiators agreed on a funding bill. the last debate before the real battle for the nomination begins. gop candidates battling it out in iowa last night trying to pick apart the frontrunner newt gingrich. gingrich defending his conservative valus and his electability. penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary is expected to testify today at a preliminary hearing for two former university officials. tim curly and gary schultz are charged with perjury and failing

to report suspected child abuse in the jerry sandusky case. that's the news you need to start your day, "american morning" back after a break.

good morning, new york city. do you recognize that song? it's one of my favorites called "home" written and performed by my friend, mary mcbride. central new york windy with a high of 52 later on. welcome back. have you been to a concert

lately? a ticket to see a big headliner could set you back hundreds of dollars, unless that headliner happens to be mary mcbride. she just wrapped up a ten-day tour in los angeles passing up staples center and playing in shelters, senior facilities and even skid row. all part of what she calls her home tour. we'll let her tell you about it. mary mcbride is here. we were just listening to "home" which i heard you perform many times. you're a singer/songwriter and a lot of people are in it to become famous and make a lot of money. you pass on all of that to do what you do. how did you come up with the idea and why are you doing it? >> in december of 2009, i was in washington with my family and we decided to volunteer for an organization called "we are family" which provides services to the elderly. and we visited with this one

woman who was over 90 and unable to leave her house and she asked me what i did and i said, i'm a singer/songwriter and she said y don't get to hear live music any more. the next time you come to washington, you have to come and do a concert for me in my living room. i realized at that moment how many people love live music and because of lack of resources or physical disability don't have the opportunity to hear it. i decided to start the home tour with a focus on playing live music where people live. >> well, i think it's so wonderful what you do and, particularly great to talk about it around the holidays. you know, and they are places that people call home, but that people don't traditionally think of as home, right? and i think it's interesting, you make it a point not to say the word homeless. you think that's important. >> i do. i think that there are a lot of people who are in transitional homes. i mean, we play everywhere from shelters to transitional living centers, affordable communities all over the country and we play

for women centers and we've played all over the world in these kind of places for children and adults and for the elderly. and i realized that for people it's important to feel at home no matter where they find themselves at any given point. >> how do you continue to do this? how do you make money? how do you make a living if you're doing all of these things where you're not getting paid? >> well, we are very, very lucky to have amazing sponsors. we're supported by starwood hotels, which gives us a home while we're doing the home tour, which sumazing. and we've also had incredible support from the artist eric official and april gornik who have been huge supporters of us and the gibson foundation. we're lucky to have that support. in terms of how we keep going and doing this, it is a really a joy and never a dull day on the home tour. >> i want to talk more about that. just the reaction you get from people when you go and perform

for them. this is something they don't get to see, right? >> there are a lot of people that we have played for who have never heard a live concert before. and a lot of people who are living in these places who are not able to get out and hear live music. so, to go and play for them where they live, it's validating where they live and it's also empowering and we also invite residents to perform with us and that sort of creates this whole community celebration, which is always exciting. >> you know, in addition to what you're doing, which is, i think, incredible, you just came back from a tour overseas. you were asked by the state department to go to russia, saudi arabia and pakistan. what were you doing and what was that like? >> we were asked by the u.s. state department and an amazing ngo called the humpty dumpty institute which works on humanitarian issues to perform in russia, saudi and pakistan and we performed versions of the

home tour there. we performed regular concerts for mixed audiences. but in pakistan, specifically, we played a lot of shows at orphanages and schools. >> what an experience. >> it was amazing. we were made to feel so welcome in all of these places. >> you were there for three weeks, approximately? overseas? >> the whole tour was about six weeks. >> six weeks. >> oh, wow. mistake. and you just wrapped up a tour in los angeles, right? what's next? what is on tap for 2012? >> we'll do the home tour in the u.s. in four more american cities this year and we're working with the state department to develop more home tour programs in other countries this year. so, that's the plan. we're really excited about it. >> in the meantime, i hope you enjoy the holidays and i hope i get to see you over the holidays, mary. mary mcbride, thanks for coming in this morning. >> thank you so much. >> great that you share the home tour with us.

if you want to support mary mcbride's home tour, you can. visit her website, thehometour.org. the beautiful models in this photo that you're about to see is breaking down barriers with a bra. jeanne moos has the story when we come back.

one of the most beautiful cities in the united states. good morning, seattle. 43 degrees and cloudy. sunny later with a high of 47. >> i love seattle, washington. my home state. welcome back to "american morning." one of the craziest stunts we've seen in quite some time, but, man, is it a rush. take a look, a kayaker plunging over 90-foot falls in alabama and he's doing this on purpose. thankfully he strapped on a helmet cam before he went over the falls. the daredevil joined brooke bolden with yesterday. even though this looks crazy, he left nothing to chance. >> i looked at this waterfall and decided that day was the right time to kayak over. as you crest over the lip, that's when you lose control, so you have to set your angle and be really focused on your landing from there. the idea is to land with your

kayak pointed vertically down so that that was really necessary on this waterfall to keep from being injured. i will not be running it, again, but i was loving the memory i had of it now. >> really good idea not to try it again. you don't need a pair of wings to sell bras, apparently, and also, you don't need to be a woman. a male model has been chosen as the face and chest of a new lingerie ad campaign. >> he's a beautiful person. >> as cnn's jeanne moos told us, the unique approach could really boost sales. >> reporter: how do you prove your push-up bra could push up even the most minuscule busts. have a man model it. >> she's attractive. >> reporter: she is actually a man. >> not bad. >> reporter: now, she is a man, actually. >> okay. >> she looks good. >> reporter: she is a man.

>> okay. she looks really good. >> reporter: the latest it girl or boy. he got to be the bride in a fashion show. "out" magazine named him stylemaker of the year. huffington post awarded him ultimate style game changer of the year and now he's changing how bras are sold. and she's advertising bras. >> does she have breasts? >> reporter: no. he flaunts what he doesn't have-not shy about appearing shirtless and that's the point that dutch department store is trying to sell. saying its mega push-up bra will pump you up two cup sizes even if you're starting cupless. >> if he can look like that, what can it do for a woman. >> i love it. >> would that convince you it's

one heck of a push-up bra? >> yes. move over victoria secret. pecks rather than breasts are making waves. named him male model of the year, but even on the portfolio page of one of his modeling agencies, he's rarely seen dressed like a guy. what a year it's been for him. >> it's been an amazing experience. ♪ dude looks like a lady >> reporter: he may leave some confused. >> i'm mixed up on what's going on today. >> reporter: even a woman who gave us an earful about being able to get used to gender swapping even she broke down. would you buy this bra when you see what it can do for him? >> yeah. >> reporter: his cups may not r runnth over. but when it comes to gender